The present invention relates to an automatic production machine having a support for carrying a headpiece having a pivot axis which is transverse to the support and which is pivotable by means of a drive mechanism.
More particularly, the present invention relates to an assembly positioner or the like which has an arm-like headpiece which, in a free end region, is adapted to hold a workpiece and/or a work tool.
Assembly positioners of the above type, sometimes referred to as industrial robots, are machines which are used for manipulating work tools as well as for moving workpieces from one work station to another or to or from a work station or to or from storage. The work tools and/or work pieces are usually positioned in accordance with a desired program which, in practice, may be stored on punched tape or other information carrier.
There exist a large number of commercially available automatic production machines of the above type, one example of which can be found in "Industrie-Roboter" (Industrial Robots) by Warnecke and Schraft, 1973, pages 260 and 261, in which reference is made to machinery manufactured by Unimation Inc., Danbury, Conn. If one considers the large number of constructions and modifications of the industrial robots described in the cited text, and those which are on the market, what comes to mind is the fact that there are in fact a great many different types of such machines. A principal reason for this may well be that each industrial robot is developed to carry out a particular function so that the machine must be designed and engineered to meet the requirements of a given industrial application, which in turn will depend on the steps that are to be carried out and on the positions which the workpieces and/or tools will have to occupy. Accordingly, any one industrial robot can be used only in the specific environment for which it was designed, or at best in that and other, closely related environments.
Industrial robots of the above type are, in general, expensive pieces of equipment, requiring substantial capital investment. It therefore appears desirable to provide a way in which to avoid the costs of acquiring new robots whenever a different operation is to be carried out, particularly since any newly acquired machine will, for all practical purposes, itself be limited to carrying out the function for which it was designed, and at best, other functions which are similar to the originally intended function.